Pork Fried Rice

Lovey could live off fried rice.  Wherever we are living he will seek out the restaurant with the best fried rice and then keep said establishment in business.  He ran across a recipe for Pork Fried Rice in an issue of Cook's Country. Now, I am the dealer for his drug; his pusher man.  He likes having this on a regular basis.

The majority of the work is prep. Once all the prep work is done the actual cooking literally takes minutes and voilà it's done.


 
Trim the pork, cut it into 1/2" pieces and set aside in a medium bowl.


 
Mix up the marinade and toss into the pork. Let this sit for at least 15 minutes. Can do this step ahead of time, refrigerating up to an hour but don't toss together until 15 minutes before beginning.  


 
Oyster sauce glaze


 
I like this method of boiling the rice; to heck with steaming


  Prep rest of ingredients

Don't let the eggs dry out. Push to side while still wet

A little prep work but this is one of the easiest throw-together meals I enjoy making,

Pork Fried Rice
Adapted from the June/July 2017 issue of Cook's Country
Serves 4 to 6


Ingredients:
1 pound boneless country-style pork ribs, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
6 tsp. low sodium soy sauce, divided
2 Tbsp. packed brown sugar
2 tsp. cornstarch
1/2 tsp. baking soda
2 Tbsp. oyster sauce
1 Tbsp. dry sherry
1 Tbsp. ketchup
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
3 quarts water
2 cups long-grain white rice
3 to 4 Tbsp. vegetable oil, divided
3 large eggs
6 scallions, white and green parts separated and sliced thin
2 garlic cloves, mince
2 carrots cut into 1/4" dice
1/4 cup frozen peas, thawed
1/4 cup chopped miniature cocktail corn

Combine 3 tsp. soy sauce, sugar, cornstarch and baking soda in a bowl.  Add the sliced pork and toss.  Let pork mixture sit for a least 15 minutes, or cover and refrigerate for up to 1 hour.  In a separate bowl, combine the oyster sauce, sherry, ketchup, salt, pepper, and remaining 3 tsp. soy sauce; set aside.

Bring 3 quarts water to a boil in a large saucepan over high heat.  Add rice and cook, stirring occasionally, until just cooked through and tender, about 12 minutes. Drain rice in a fine-mesh strainer or a colander.

Lightly beat eggs in a small bowl and set aside.  Prepare scallions by thinly slicing and dividing the white from the green parts. Mince the garlic; set aside.  Dice the carrots and measure out your peas and miniature cocktail corn; set aside.

Heat 1 Tbsp. oil in a wok or a large nonstick skillet over high heat until just smoking.  Add pork in a single layer and cook, without stirring, until browned, about 2 minutes. Stir pork and continue to cook, stirring frequently, until dark brown on all sides, about 3 minutes longer.  Transfer to a clean bowl.  Note that, depending on the size of your skillet, you may need to cook your pork in two stages, using another Tbsp. of oil. 

Heat 1 Tbsp. oil in a now-empty skillet or wok over high heat until shimmering.  Add eggs and stir with rubber spatula until set but still wet, about 15 seconds. Push eggs to 1 side of skillet. Add remaining 1 Tbsp. oil, scallion whites, and garlic to the empty side of the skillet and cook until fragrant, about 15 seconds.

Add rice and stir to break up clumps and any large egg curds.  Cook until rice begins to sizzle and pop loudly, about 3 minutes. Stir in peas, corn, carrots, oyster sauce mixture, pork and scallion greens and cook, stirring constantly, until thoroughly combined, about 2 minutes.  Serve immediately.

  

Turmeric Rice

I was a little hesitant in making this side dish.  Primarily because Lovey is so used to his brown rice cooked in broth and lightly buttered.  That's how he likes his rice, plain and simple.


I wanted to try this because I am trying to broaden my appreciation for Indian food.  I Heart Cooking Clubs is providing a good outlet for me to try things and this week it's all about rice.


I planned on baked chicken breasts with Moroccan preserved lemons so I thought this recipe of Madhur Jaffrey's would pair well.

Basmati rice naturally has a wonderful aromatic flavor to it.  This recipe provides even more flavor with the addition of bay leaf, cinnamon stick, whole cloves, cardamom pods, garlic, salt and, or course, turmeric.

These spices were what had me concerned about whether Lovey would like it.  My gut feeling would be that his reaction would be something to the tune of "Hey, what's this in my rice?".

Before the rice and liquid are added to the pan, the spices and garlic are tossed into extremely hot vegetable oil.  I wish I knew how to describe the aroma that came from flash cooking them like that.  I wasn't even able to take time to snap a photo of it I had to move so quickly.

After 20 minutes a fluffy, aromatic and wonderfully flavored rice emerged from the pot.  The turmeric gave it a slight yellow tint.

My husband has been surprising me a lot lately.  I held my breath when he began to eat and the first thing he said, after thank you, was how much he really, really liked the rice!!  I believe 'fantastic' was the word he used.  He may be expecting this more and more!  Which is just fine with me.


Turmeric Rice
A recipe by Madhur Jaffrey
Serves 4 - 6

Ingredients:
2 cups long grain basmati rice
3 Tbsp. vegetable oil
3 whole cloves
1 bay leaf
4 cardamom pods
1" piece of cinnamon bark
2 cloves garlic
1/4 tsp. ground turmeric
1 tsp. salt
22 ounces water
chopped chives as garnish (optional)

Mise en place

• put rice in a bowl and wash in several changes of water.  Drain & leave in a strainer set over a bowl.
• place the cloves, bay leaf cardamom and cinnamon bark in a small prep bowl
• peel & finely chop the garlic and set aside in a small prep bowl
• measure turmeric & salt into a small prep bowl and set aside
• measure out water

Method:
Put the oil in a heavy based saucepan and set over a medium high heat.  When the oil is hot and beginning to bubble, put in the cloves, bay leaf, cardamom pods and cinnamon.  Stir once or twice and add the garlic.

As soon as the garlic turns medium brown put in the rice, turmeric and salt.  Stir gently for a minute.  Now add the water and bring to a boil.

Cover tightly, turn the heat down to very, very low and cook for 20 minutes.  Stir the rice with a fork to separate the grains and serve garnished with chives.

I'm sharing this recipe at IHCC.  Go check out the other Madhur Jaffrey rice dishes people are sharing.

Risotto con zucchini

Aside from being one of the most delicious dishes on earth, there are several other reasons I love risotto.  The possibilities of what you can add to it are endless;  it can be a side dish or your main entreé;  it's an easy technique; and, it's the perfect therapy for those cooks who feel the urge to stir the pot every nanosecond.

I'm cooking another recipe from this beautiful cookbook "Twelve ~ A Tuscan Cook Book"  by Tessa Kiros.  It's 'Rice is Nice' week over at I Heart Cooking Clubs.  If you pop over there you can read all about Tessa and see what the other gals selected for this week's recipe.

Here we have all of our ingredients ready to go.  The stock is on the burner getting hot.  Ready to throw in the other bit pot are the onions, garlic, zucchini, parsley, basil, arborio rice, wine, butter, and Parmesan cheese.

 In hot olive oil, sauté the onion until it begins to soften

 Toss in the garlic and cook for another minute

 Toss in your zucchini and season with salt and pepper.  Toss to coat with the olive oil.  Toss in half of the parsley and basil and combine.

 Add the rice and stir with a wooden spoon, which will become your best friend, so that the rice is coated with the oil.  Let cook for a couple of minutes.  Pour the wine and cook until the wine has evaporated. 

A little side note here...  see this little gadget attached to the rim of the dutch oven?  It's one of my favorites and is the handiest little thing ever to hold your cooking utensil!!  Christanne & Char are always giving me fun and useful gadgets for the kitchen.   Okay, back to cooking.

 Begin to add stock to the rice a ladle or two at a time.  Stir with your wooden spoon, making sure to scrape the bottom of the pan so the rice doesn't stick.  When the rice has absorbed all the liquid, add some more ladle by ladle.  See how there is still liquid when I push my spoon across the bottom of the pot?

 Now, see how the liquid has absorbed?  It's magic.

 Once your rice has reached the consistency that you want, which is creamy, yet slightly firm and a little bit of liquid left, you can finish off your risotto.  Stir in the butter, Parmesan cheese and the remaining parsley and basil leaves.

See how creamy this is?  Delicious!  Here's the recipe for you.

Risotto con Zucchini
Serves 6

Ingredients:
6 cups vegetable stock
4 Tbsp. olive oil
1 medium white onion, peeled & finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled & finely chopped
1 pound, 5 ounces small zucchini (courgettes) trimmed & finely sliced
a handful of chopped fresh parsley
about 6 basil leaves, roughly torn
1 pound, 2 ounces risotto rice
1 cup white wine
1-3/4 ounce butter
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, plus extra for serving

Mise en Place:

• Pour stock in large pot and begin heating on stove
• chop onion
• chop garlic
• slice zucchini
• chop parley
• tear basil
• measure out your wine, butter and Parmesan

Method:
Heat the stock in a saucepan on the stovetop.

Heat the olive oil in a large heavy-bottomed separate saucepan suitable for risotto, and add the onion.  Sauté until it has softened slightly, then add the garlic.

Sauté for another minute.  Add the zucchini slices, season with salt and pepper, and cook on a gentle heat for a few minutes.  Toss in half of the chopped parsley and basil.  Add the rice to the pan and stir to coat with a wooden spoon, cooking for a minute or two.

Add the wine and when it has evaporated, add a ladleful or two of hot stock.  Stir, taking care to move all the rice at the bottom of the pan to avoid sticking.  When the rice has absorbed the liquid, add more stock and stir.

Continue in this way until the rice has achieved the right consistency, which should be creamy, yet slightly firm and a little liquid.  If you run out of broth, continue with hot water.  Taste the risotto after 20 minutes -- it may need another 5 minutes or so.

Stir in the butter, Parmesan cheese, the remaining parsley and basil leaves.  Serve immediately with extra grated Parmesan cheese.

I am sharing this post with I Heart Cooking Clubs

Leslie’s Favorite Chicken-And-Wild Rice Casserole

This recipe is out of an issue of Southern Living; date unknown.  It was submitted by  Leslie Flemister from Dunwoody, Georgia.

 C. selected this clipping for our dinner this evening.  Since it’s just the two of us, I halved the recipe and it halved very well.  Leslie notes that the recipe freezes well; up to 1 month. Although I halved the recipe, I have given you the recipe below for the whole recipe that yields 6 to 8 servings.

Here are the cast of characters for today’s clipping.  Milk, sour cream, water chestnuts, onion, cheddar cheese, cooked chicken, celery, wild rice mix,  & mushroom soup.

Begin by melting some butter in a large skillet over medium heat.  Sauté the onion, celery and water chestnuts.

Stir in the rice (as well as the seasoning packet), the chicken & part of the cheese.

I’d like to add a note about the chicken here.  The recipe calls for 5 cups of chopped cooked chicken.  You can do this a couple of ways.  If you are in need of some good broth to freeze you can boil your own chicken (don’t forget to add all of those flavorful additions like celery, carrots, onion and a little garlic).  Or, you can do what I chose to do today and that was to buy a plain roasted chicken from the neighborhood store’s deli department.

I boned the chicken and shredded the meat.  It easily yielded the 5 cups that the recipe calls for.  I can’t emphasize enough here how fabulous it is to wear food gloves to bone the chicken.  Once you are through and toss the gloves your hands are so nice and clean.  There is nothing nastier than greasy, poultry fat hands.

Add the soup mixture and stir to combine.

Transfer the mixture to a lightly greased casserole dish.  You can top it with the breadcrumbs if you like; I elected to leave them off.

Bake for 30 minutes then top with the rest of the cheese and bake for 5 more minutes.

It proved to be a tasty dinner.  It produced a creamy texture with a pleasant crunchiness from the water chestnuts.   This casserole pairs nicely with a crisp dinner salad and a chilled Pinot Grigio.  That’s all you need for this easy dinner.  We enjoyed it very much.  Thank you Leslie!

Leslie’s Favorite Chicken-and-Wild Rice Casserole

Yields 6 to 8 servings; Prep: 30 minutes; Bake:  35 minutes

Ingredients:

2 (6.2 ounce) packages fast-cooking long-grain & wild rice mix

¼ C. butter or margarine

2 medium onions, chopped

4 celery ribs, chopped

2 (8 ounce) cans sliced water chestnuts, drained

5 cups chopped cooked chicken

4 cups (1 pound) shredded Cheddar Cheese, divided

2 (10-3/4 ounce) cans cream of mushroom soup, undiluted

2 (8 ounce) containers sour cream

1 cup milk

½ tsp. salt

½ tsp. pepper

½ cup soft breadcrumbs (optional)

Mise en place:

·         chop onions and celery

·         drain water chestnuts

·         shred or chop chicken

·         shred cheese and divide

·         whisk together the soup, sour cream, milk, salt & pepper

Method:

·   Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat; add onion, celery, and water chestnuts.  Sauté 10 minutes or until tender.

·   Stir in rice, season packet, chicken, & 3 cups of the cheese.  Gently mix.  Add soup mixture and gently mix.

·   Pour into a lightly greased 15 x 10 inch baking dish or a 4-quart casserole.  Top with breadcrumbs, if desired.

·   Bake casserole at 350° for 30 minutes.  Sprinkle with remaining 1 cup cheese, and bake 5 more minutes.

NOTE:  Casserole may be frozen up to 1 month.  Let stand at room temperature 1 hour.  Bake, covered at 350° for 30 minutes.  Uncover and bake 55 more minutes.  Sprinkle with cheese, and bake 5 more minutes.